Bettas Delivered A Week Early PLEASE HELP!!!

[Sherleelee]

I thought i had one more week for my tank to finish its cycle but no they just got dilvered to me!!!! One of my tanks readings is nitrite 0.25 and ammonia about 0.50 and the other tank is nitrite 0 and ammonia 0.25
can i add water to there bags with the readins like that or will i kill them!! i dont know what to do! i know i need to add a lil bit of water of the span of 24 hours, but will adding the water with readings like that do any harm pleasssee answer quickly , im liek shaking im soo scared!!!!

[vilmarisv]

Don't worry... placed them in temporary containers until your tank cycles. Just keep the water clean with everyday water changes.

[JKfish]

you can do a 50% water (or however much is necessary to bring the params to below .25 ppms) change on the cycling tanks, remove the source of ammonia, and put the fish in to do a fish in cycle. All you have to do is monitor their water daily and do water changes as necessary. Depending on the size of the tank and how many fish, you might be doing anything from daily partial water changes to once weekly partial water changes.

[ansalong]

If it were me I'd use temporary tanks and change the water often like vilmarisv suggests. Don't add water to their bags if its ammonia is too high.

[Sherleelee]

Thanks all, i did a 70% water change on both tanks while i had there bags sitting in the water, waiting an hour tested and ammonia was at 0.25 and nitriate same for both tanks ( as i stated in my post i mean, 0 for one and 0.25 for the other) :) added a bit of water over the course of 5 hours and put them in, ( they where looking bloody sad to be in the bag) and soon as i put them in they looved it!!!! there swimming in all the nooks and crannings ^.^ they survived the night so that has to mean for something haha! soo happpy!!!! will def be monitoring the not quite cycled tank tho till its done.

[ansalong]

I'm glad it worked out. We need pics!

[Cravenne]

Sounds good. Just make sure to do your readings often and change out as much water as necessary to keep ammonia and nitrite levels down.

Since you're still showing ammonia in both tanks, it's unlikely your cycle would have been done in a week anyway. Ammonia spikes first, then nitrite, then nitrates show.

Just be prepared to change out lots of water.

And congrats on the new arrivals! Take some pictures :)

[JKfish]

I see you still had nitrite registering. Keep a close eye on it, and IMO, if possible get it to 0. the tank will still be able to cycle (though a bit more slowly meaning more water changes), but that'll be necessary to make sure they stay healthy. From what I've heard, nitrite poisioning is not pretty

[Thunderloon]

If you start seeing the thin gill frill protruding, assume you need to change the water a little more often and back off on feeding.

Keep in mind that betta, since they take in open air, have a mild resistance to ammonia and nitrite but that they still must take in tank water and excrete it so they are exposed to it digestively.